'Melancholia' is a film in which special effects play an unusual role. Instead of spectacular explosions, we created the atmosphere and style of the movie. This process is completely different from creating a typical motion picture that uses special effects. This time around we composed the frame, created the light, added subtle effects, thanks to which everything that is seen in the frame has a specifically determined place and meaning, says Jakub Knapik, VFX Supervisor, Platige Image.This year's Cannes Film Festival hosted record numbers of Polish film directors, producers and post-production companies
The 64th annual Film Festival in Cannes features films that were produced, directed and include special effects by some of the Polish film industry's most prominent filmmakers and studios. The highlight was Lars von Trier's latest film Melancholia, the special effects of which were designed by award-winning Polish post-production studio "Platige Image".
Von Trier's film, which premieres at Cannes this year, qualified for the main competition of the festival. From May 11-22, the jury, of which actor Robert de Niro is president, selects the best film among the twenty that qualified for the competition.
This is the second time since Antichrist that Platige Image has cooperated with the Danish director. Some of the special effects were also created in German and Swiss studios, but 30 per cent were produced in Poland. 19 graphics designers worked on the film's special effects for 3 months. Most effects consist of 3D animation, simulation and image composition.
Melancholia premieres in Poland on May 27, 2011.
Another highlight of the world famous festival is a short film produced in Norway (Interfilm) directed by Polish filmmaker Piotr Kuziński. Under overflaten" / "Under the Surface was part of this year's Short Film Corner in Cannes. It explores the difficult choices that the family and doctors of a dying patient have to make. The main character of the film is a young girl called Dolores (played by Unn Catodotter Fyllingsnes) who falls into coma. She survives each day on life support being fed by a feeding probe. Dolores' mother wants to free her daughter from this kind of existence. The film explores whether she has a right to do so.
In a film that poses difficult questions, metaphorical dream images are made to illustrate ethical issues whilst also exploring the threshold between life and death. The role of the mother is performed by Tone Danielsen, a renowned Oslo National Theatre actress and Amanda Award laureate (an annual Norwegian film festival award). The doctor is played by John Sigurd Kristensen. The music for the film was written by Fredrik Langlo.
Also representing Poland at this year's festival is young Polish producer, Łukasz Dzięcioł at Producers On The Move, the European Film Promotion's networking platform. Also participating in the May 14-17 event are 25 outstanding film producers from 25 European countries: the largest number of participants since the programme's launch 12 years ago.
Financially supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the initiative offers the participants an ideal opportunity via its numerous networking events to forge contacts with colleagues from other European countries as well as to meet representatives of film funds and learn more about the production conditions within Europe. In addition, the participants profit from the "Producers On The Move" label which is now linked to the names of such internationally successful (co-)producers as Janine Jackowski of Komplizenfilm (Germany - "Sleeping Sickness"), Daniel Mitulescu of Strada Film (Romania - "If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle") or Ferenc Pusztai of KMH Film (Hungary - "Adrienn Pál").
Łukasz Dzięcioł holds a master's degree in film studies from the University of Łódź. He participated in the International Producing Programme at Cologne's Internationale Filmschule (IFS) and in the Los Angeles Film School Producing Program. For the past 10 years, he has been working at Opus Film, a feature film and commercials company, of which he is part-owner.
Recently, Łukasz produced "Zero" by Paweł Borowski and "My Flesh My Blood" by Marcin Wrona. The films were screened at several international festivals and garnered major film prizes.
Other production credits include Sławomir Fabicki's "Retrieval", which premiered in 2006 in Cannes and was Poland's candidate for the Foreign Language Oscar. He also produced Adam Guziński's "A Boy on a Galloping Horse" which screened out of competition" in Cannes' official selection during the same year.
Piotr Kuziński (director and screenwriter of Under the Surface ) is also a graduate of Łódź Film School. His previous films include One Life, a film about HIV positive drugs addicts (won an award at the Kraków Film Festival), Kill Them! Kill Them!" / "Bare drep dem! - about a Pole who commited a double homocide in Oslo, Livreddere series, Boxing Arne Næss (produced jointly with prof. Nina Witoszek), Med rett til å drømme" / "The Right to Dream - about a traveler, Ekko av batonger" / "The Sound of Batons - that tells the story of a Polish human rights supporter murdered by the Norwegian Police and the commercially successful Smilet i øyet" / "Smile in the Eye - about girls who use ecstasy.
For more information about this year's edition of the Cannes film festival, see: www.festival-cannes.com.
Source: http://www.pisf.pl, www.efp-online.com, www.stopklatka.pl